Spanish fire crews tackle forest blaze from air and ground

Huge clouds of black smoke filled the sky as firefighters battled a large blaze at Altura in Spain on Friday (August 19).

Video released by local firefighters showed teams using helicopters to drop water on the flames while ground teams worked to extinguish the smoking embers of burning shrubs.

Authorities said that firefighting work had been positive during Friday night, and people evacuated from the towns of Bejis and Toras were finally allowed to go back home on Saturday.

Wildfires have burned in eastern Spain in recent days as strong winds fanned flames raging through parched bushland, burning more than19,000 hectares in the Valencia region.

Climate change has left parts of the Iberian peninsula at their driest in 1,200 years, according to a study published last month in the Nature Geoscience journal.

(Reuters)